Weaving and woven fabrics



y 1947- E. GLENI JINNING EFAL 2,424,928

WEAVING AND WOVEN FABRICS Filed Oct. 7, 1943 v 5 Sheets-Sheet 1 A INVENTO Rs ENGxENmNNM F. B NS July 29; 1947. E. GLENDINNING EI'AL 2,424,928

WEAVING AND WOVEN FABRICS Filed Oct. 7, 1943 5 Sheets-Sheet 2 INVENTORS E.GLEND\NN\N@- F. Bwms y 1947- E. GLENDINNING ETAL 2,424,928

WEAVING AND WOVEN FABRICS 5 Sheets-Sheet 3 Filed 001;. '7. 1943 aka} 7 .1. Glandzlnn) y 1947. E. GLENDINNING ETAL 2,424,928

SAVING AND OVER FABRICS Filed Oct. 7, 1943 5 Sheeta-Sheet 5 Patented July 29, 1947 WEAVING AND WOVEN. FABRICS Edward Glendlnning, Huddersfield, and Frank Binns, Bradford, England Application October 7', 1943, Serial No. 505,374 In Great Britain December 3, 1942 vention has for its objectthe provision of an improved composite cloth in which the folds or pleat (hereinafter'referred to as folds) may be formed to provide a variety of effects, including a fabric in which a fold arrangement having folds of substantial amplitude on one or both sides 10 of ground forming warps, affords substantial resiliency or resistance to pressure exercised upon the face or faces of the fabric.

An aim of the invention lies in the provision of a relatively thick composite fabric comprising a 5 fold formation or folded pile constituted by fold corrugations some or all of which are of substantial amplitude and are arranged such that the fabric presents a substantially continuous piletions may 'be greater on one side than on the other of. the ground cloth or warps, including the case where the'small folds are of minimum amplitude and lie substantially in contact with the ground cloth or warps.

According to another form, the folds are formed in groups of consecutive folds (preferably in pairs) of substantial amplitude on one or both sides of the ground cloth or warps and are separated by two or more folds of smaller or minimum amplitude, each fold (or certain of them) being longitudinally secured by one or more wefts of the ground cloth.

The folds of the fold-forming cloth may be intersected on one or both sides of the Plane Of intersection by the ground forming cloth by additional warps or woven warp and wefts which may be located in a plane (or planes) at the like surface (or surfaces) provided by the adjao tops of the folds or loops of the foldin cloth or cent tops or outward ends of the.- continuous folds.

Another object of the present invention is to provide a fireproof composite fabric formed of intermediate the tops and the ground forming cloth. Instead of a single ground forming cloth the composite fabric may comprise a pair of woven ground forming cloths one on each side of fireproof material such as asbestos or material the central plane of the composite cloth and inrendered fireproof by treatment.

A further object of the invention is to provide resilient pads or padding of substantial thickness such as may be used in some circumstances as an alternative to rubber or felt padding.

3 The invention consists in a composite fabric comprising, a warp and weft woven fold forming cloth which is twice, or more times, as long as the ground forming cloth each cloth having its own warp and weft, and a succession of trans- 3 verse folds formed in the fold forming cloth which are intresected approximately at right-angles by the rectilinear warps of the ground forming cloth so that the warp or warp and weft of the fold forming cloth always appears on both 40 sides of the ground forming cloth, a weft or wefts of which pass between the convolutions of the folds or certain of them of the fold forming cloth, fixing the said folds or certain of them so that they are held open at their base by woven and the ground forming cloth specified above may be referred to as such or as the "ground cloth," and the warp and wefts of the respective cloths may be similarly identified.

The amplitude of the fold convolutions may tersecting the folds of the folding cloth.

The invention further consists in a composite fabric as specified above wherein independent weft threads or transverse filling of substantial 0 gauge lie between or within the fold loops on one or both sides of the ground cloth to assist in distending the loops and afford greater substance to the pile folds.

The fabric may be formed of threads or yarns of animal, vegetable, or mineral material or mixtures thereof, or. of mixed threads or yarns of animal, vegetable or mineral materials.

The invention also consists in a method of composite weaving employing ground warps running from a warp beam for a ground forming cloth and folding warps which are twice, or more times, as long as the ground warps and running from another warp beam to form a fold forming cloth, comprising weaving the fold forming cloth in sections including folding warps and wefts, forming successive folds in the fold forming cloth intersected approximately at right-angles by rectilinear ground warps of the ground forming cloth by passing the warps of the fold forming cloth through the ground warps and by beating up the woven fold forming cloth to push it up into folds on the ground warps towards the fell of the composite fabric and laying ground wefts through the ground warps between or in the fold loops be symmetrical on both sides of the ground cloth (or certain of them) of the fold forming cloth to 3 secure the folds longitudinally, and fold the folds or certainof them open at their base by woven ground weft and warp threads.

The invention also consists in a method of composite weaving employing folding warps for a fold-forming cloth and ground warps for a ground forming cloth. comprising weaving a fold-forming cloth including folding warps and wefts, forming a double (or multiple) fold of substantial amplitude extending on both sides of the ground forming warps by beating up the fold-forming cloth towards the fell of the composite cloth, forming folds of relatively small or minimum amplitude in the folding warps (with or without wefts) between the double (or multiple) folds of the cloth and laying ground wefts through the ground warps so that a weft (or wefts) lies in said smaller folds or in the latter and in or between the double or multiple folds or certain of them. 1

The invention also "comprises the production of a compound padding material or multiple padded structure comprising a series or layers of composite fabric according to any of the preeedin adjacent layers or in some of them preferably being arranged at right-angles or transverse to one another.

The composite fabric may be woven upon known looms and it is preferred to employ two warp beams, one for the fold-forming warps and y the other for the ground forming warps, the beams being suitably controlled so that the delivery of the warps of the fold-forming cloth can be effected at a rate greater than that of the delivery of the warps of the ground forming cloth in correspondence with the greater length of cloth required for the fold formation. The shedding of the sets of warps is operated by relatively displaceable healds in known manner and controlled by any suitable known mechanism such as a,

dobby, Jacquard or tappet mechanism. Shuttle and picking mechanism according to usual practice is provided capable of laying wefts in the sheds of the warps, including any of the known control means for making blank picks or delivering two or more wefts in a single shed in known manner or laying loose or independent weft filling in or between the folds of the folding cloth.

The weaving process is continuous and there need be no let back of the woven folding cloth and the mechanism controlling the warps of the fold-forming cloth is effected so that very little or no take-up occurs in the weaving of the foldforming cloth but an increased rate of take-up is used in the weaving of the ground-forming cloth. When the fold-forming cloth is being woven the fell of the cloth lies nearer the reed than is normally the case and after the warps of the fold-forming cloth have passed through the ground warps for weaving a fold-forming length below the ground warps. one or more heatups of the reed may occur without weft being inserted (i. e. blank picks) to facilitate the pushing up of the folding cloth into a fold. The folds are held in position by one or more subsequently laid wefts of the ground forming cloth. After laying the ground wefts further blank picks may be effected to push back the fold-forming cloth still further. The weaving of the fold-forming cloth is continued alternately above and below 4 the ground cloth and pushed into folds which are successively held in place by a weft or wefts oi the ground cloth. The ground cloth is woven with suitable selvedges to enable them to be engaged and held by the temples.

The invention will be further explained with reference to a suitable mode of carrying it into effect as described by way of example, upon a loom employing a dobby mechanism of the character described in United States Reissue Patents Nos. 7784 and 7785 and having suitable arrangements for performing the weaving operations recited in the two preceding paragraphs.

In the accompanying drawings, Figures 1 to 14 are diagrammatic sectional representations of various examples of composite fabric according to the invention. In these figures the heavy full lines represent (indicated by the general reference A) the fold-forming cloth which it will be understood embodies interwoven warps and wefts, while the thin lines (general reference B) represent ground or centre warps or similar additional warps. The wefts woven in with the warps of the ground cloth or additional cloths are shown by dots formed on the thin warp indicating lines. Fillings that are independent of the cloths and are not interwoven with warps are represented in Figures 13 and 14 by small circles.

Figures 15 to 18 illustrate diagrammatically parts of a loom for the purpose of explaining the carrying of the invention into effect. For the sake of clarity in various figures certain parts are omitted. the parts included being only those necessary for understanding the mechanical operation of the improved methods.

Figure 15 is a diagrammatic side elevation showing the general layout of the loom.

Figure 16 is a view representing in side elevation parts of the let-off motion for the ground forming cloth.

Figure 16a is a detail of the ratchet gear for turning the worm shaft for letting oil? the warps on the ground warp beam.

Figure 16b shows a counterweighted lever control for the back roller over which the ground W 1! 9 Figure 17 shows a side elevation of the loom frame illustrating the mechanism for interrupting the take-up of the woven composite cloth and also the control connection from the dobby jack of the mechanism for easing tension of the back roller over which the folding warps pass.

Figure 17a is a detail showing the part of the operative connections for depressing the back roller-for easing the tension on the folding warps, while Figure 17b is a detail illustrating a friction brake operating on the warp beam of the foldforming warps.

Figure 18 is a diagram showing representative parts of the dobby and dobby Jacks of the character described in the United States Patent specifications numbered as above controlling the operation of the healds and other parts according to the weaving as described hereinafter.

In carrying the invention into effect as described by way of example using a loom of the before mentioned character, warps are prepared levers c, d, and the warps a and b are threaded through two sets of healds E and F.

The going part or lay of the loom is diagrammatically represented at G showing the reed o.

The composite woven folded cloth is shown by the corrugated part H passing over the breast beam I to be wound upon the cloth roller J. 'The healds E and F are controlled and operated by the usual dobby (not shown in Figure to shed the warps a and 7: according to the method of weaving described below. Similarly, the usual shuttle .operating mechanism (not shown in Figure 15) is also provided for layin the wefts in the sheds of the fold-forming warps a for weaving the foldforming cloth and also for laying wefts in the' sheds (or certain of them) of the ground warps b.

The beat-up mechanism of the loom is employed for beating up the woven lengths of foldforming cloth into folds and for beating up the ground wefts according to the method of weaving hereinafter described.

Referring to Figure 16 the back roller D carried by the lever d maintains the tension on the warps b by the gravity action of the counterweight lever I which is connected to the lever d by the link Ia. One end of a lever 2 bears against an adjustable abutment screw Ia and has its other end attached by a connecting rod 2a to a lever 3 (Figure 16a.) carrying weighted pawl means 3a. A lever lifting rod 4 having a collar 4a which engages under the lever 2 is connected to a bell-crank lever 5 coupled by a link 50 to the going part G mounted on the rock shaft a. The ground warp beam B has a worm wheel b driven by a shaft I through the worm la. The shaft 1 carries the ratchet wheel 'Ib rotated by the action of the pawls 3a. The end of the shaft I carries a weighted friction brake 7c.

. At, the beat-up of a pick of ground weft, the tension put on the warps draws in the back roller D against the resistance provided by the weighted lever I. Movement of the back roller lever d lifts the regulating abutment.- screw I c, allowing the lever 2 to lower the rod 2a so that the pawls 3a are oscillated about the axis of the shaft 1 to take up a new driving position with respect to the ratchet wheel 'Ib. As the going part G swings towards its back centre position the crank lever 5 is operated through the link 5a to raise the rod 4 and collar to and lift the lever 2 to its original position. This return movement of the lever 2 lifts the connecting rod 2a and the pawls 3a in engagement with the ratchet wheel Ib to give the shaft la a stepwise let-ofl rotation which is communicated through the worm Ia to the warp beam B, thus restoring the original tension to the warps b.

The let-off takes place when the ground cloth is being woven as the tension on the ground warp remains constant during the weaving of the folding cloth.

Instead of the usual let-off motion such as described above for the beam B, a friction brake let-off is employed as shown in Figure 17b for the warps a and folding warp beam A where the warp beam is seen with a friction rope I! passed around the drum or pulley 8b in a contrary direction to that in which the warp is delivered from the beam A, The rope is anchored at 80 to part of the frame of the loom and the running end is connected to lever 9 pivoted to a convenient part of the frame at 972 and carrying an adjustable weight 911. The friction of the rope 8 on the drum 8b provides sufficient drag for retardation on the warps a and this retardation can be varied by adlusting the position ofthe weight 8b on the lever I. The interruption of take-up of the fold-forming cloth is eflected by a modification, as shown in Figure 1'7, of the negative take-up mechanism of the loom. The cloth beam J has a gear I0 meshing with a small gear Illa on a shaft carrying the ratchet wheel II. A pawl I2 is provided eneasing the ratchet teeth II to prevent retrograde movement of the cloth beam J. The ratchet. wheel is also engaged and rotated stepwise by an arm I 3 having a reverse pawl Ila. The arm I3 is pivoted to a three-armed take-up lever I4 the lower arm I 4a of which is engaged by a latch or projection carried by thegoing part. of the loom. The arm Ilb of the three-armed lever carries a counterweight I40 and is connected by a link I! and cord lid to an anchorage lib in the frame of the loom. 1

One of the dobby Jacks (normally used for lifting the healds) is employed for moving the lever arm Ila away from the latch g and suspending the action of the pawl I3 on its ratchet wheel II, to interrupt the take-up. For instance the jack I6, Figure 17, carries a rod Iia the end of which has a hook connection IIib with the cord I511. The lower arm I! of another jack has aloop and cord connection I'Ia which passes around guide pulleys IIb, I'Ic and is connected to a counterweighted lever IId referred to hereinafter in reference to means for assisting the folding operation of the folding cloth by easing tension on the back roller C over which the folding cloth warps A pass.

Normally the latch g on the going part engages the arm Ila of the take-up lever M which carries the take-up pawl lever I3. As the going part moves to the back centre the projection g pushes the arm Ila backwards and tilts the lever I4. The arm IS with its pawl or catch I3a is carried forward over the required number of teeth into such a position that when the weft is beaten up the weight of the counterweighted arm Ilb draws the arm I3 and catch I3a back while the latter is in engagement with the ratchet wheel II and causes it to be turned and through the gearing Illa, III, to give the cloth or piece beam J a stepwise rotation. The take-up is interrupted when the lower jack'arm I6 rises, lifting the rod Ida .and pulls on the anchored cord I5a through the hook attachment I6b. The pulling of the cord Ilia raises the end of the weighted arm I411 and moves the arm Ila out of reach of the catch or projection g on the going part of the loom, so that operation of the pawl I3a issuspen'ded and take-up of the cloth does not take place.

In some looms springs are used in place of the counterweight Me to operate the lever I4 and catch or pawl I3a.

The folding of the fold-forming cloth is assisted by easing the tension on the back roller C over which the folding warps a pass (see Figures 15, 1'7 and. 17a). The longer arm of the lever arm c carrying the back roller C is normally depressed by the counterweighted lever I Hi, pivoted to a convenient part of the frame, acting through the connecting rod I8, and the back roller C is pushed outwardly to maintain tension on the warps a. An adjustable stop I9 is provided for limiting the lower position of the arm of the lever c and the outward position of the back roller C. The counterweighted lever I Id is connected to the cord IIa, see Figure 1'7, which in turn is connected to the jack I1 (via guides I'Ic, I'Ib).

When the fold-forming cloth is being woven let-oil of the folding warps is controlled by the spacers friction brake, Figure 17b, and the tension ad .iustment at the back roller by the counterwelghted lever "d. When the fold-forming cloth is pushed into a fold it is preferred to ease the tension on the folding warps a by lifting the lever I'ld so that the back roller C may move inward to relieve the tension and facilitate the forming of a fold. The jack I! to which the cord "a is attached normally remains lowered whilst the fold-forming cloth is being woven. When, however, the fold-forming operation takes place (that is to say when beat-up occurs) the jack arm I1 is raised, thus lifting the counterweight I 1d and easing the tension vv on the fold warps a by lowering the back roller C as indicated. I

- The healds are controlled by the dobby mechanism and as above indicated the dobby mechanism and a lack thereof is employed for controlling the interruption of the take-up on the cloth beam and another jack for releasing the tension on the fold-forming warps when the reed is beating up to form the fold-forming cloth into folds. Figure 18 shows a part of the dobby mechanismin which the usual pair of segmentaliy toothed cylinders 20, 2! is positioned one above and pattern chains set to give the appropriate shedding motions, to control the picks and shuttle mechanism and to control the take-up and ease tension on the folding warps a section of fold-forming cloth is woven to make the fold z in the fold-forming cloth (shown by the heavy full line A, Figure 1) above the warps of the ground forming cloth, the length of the portion being determined by the size or amplitude of the fold s.

It will be evident that as the folding path of the folding cloth i considerably longer than that of the ground cloth which is substantially rectilinear (that is to say the warps lie substantially in one plane), the folding warps delivery will take place at a correspondingly greater rate than that of the ground warps-for example at a ratio of from 3 to 5 (folding warps) to 1 (ground warps). The weaving of'this section (for fold z) is effected without any take-up on the cloth beam J, Figure 15. The folding warps a now pass through the ground warps b, Figure 15, and one or more weftless beat-ups (i. e. one or more blank picks) occur thereafter. Tension is eased on the and the other below the vibrator gears 22 carried by the vibrator levers 23. The toothed cylinders 20, 2| continuously revolve in opposite directions for alternatively imparting rotation to the vibrator gears 22. The series of vibrator gears 22 each has a certain number of teeth missing in order that the jacks may remain in the same position if required for successive picks to form an open shed. The vibrator gear levers 23 lie over.

the pattern cylinder 24 and each has a piece 23a adapted to be engaged by the appropriate roller of the set 25 of the pattern chain 26. Each lever 23 has a stud 23b which projects into the slot 220 of its gear22, the object of this engagement being to retain the gear in the same relative position after each movement either to right or left. Arms 21 are pivotally attached to the gears 22 at 22c and connected at the other end to the upper Jack levers 28, the lower arm being shown at 29. A connector weight 21a pivoted to a convenient part of the frame presses on any conjack arm 29 (which is equivalent to jack arm I! in Figure 17) and the cord [6a (Figure 1"!) is looped to an appropriate lower jack arm for oporation.

The width of the folding cloth is less than the width of the ground cloth by an amount sufficient to provide rather wide selvedges consisting of ground cloth only if the composite fabric is so thick that it will not pass through the temples. These selvedges are engaged by the usual temples (not shown in drawings) which are operated according to current known practice to keep the woven material transversely extended to a given width. If the composite fabric is, say, only /9" or so thick, ordinary temples (opened up) may be employed and no special selvedges are needed.

Inoperation, to produce a composite cloth of the character shown in Figure l and assuming that the warps for the fold-forming cloth and ground forming .cloth'have been prepared upon the beams A and B and the warps have been warps a by lowering the roller c by the mechanism described with. reference to Figure 17a. Thus the woven section of the fold-forming cloth i pushed toward the fell of the cloth to form fold a by the beating-up action. .As the fold z is formed one or more (for example two) wefts are inserted through the ground warps b to hold the fold z in position and one or more blank picks may occur to beat up the inserted weft still further, after which take-up of the fold-forming cloth occurs on the cloth beam J by the mechanism shown in Figure 1'1. The inserted watts of the ground cloth in Figure l are shown (as explained above) by dots on the thin line B.

A further section of fold-forming cloth is next woven below the ground warps to form a depending fold such as 1/, Figure 1, and again during this weaving operation no take-up occurs. When the required length of fold-forming'cloth has been woven below the ground warps, the folding warps a then pass between the ground warps to the upper side thereof when one or more blank picks occur to push up the fold-forming cloth woven below the ground warps and thus form the hanging fold 1/. During-the blank picking the tension is eased on 'theback roller C in the same way as mentioned above in reference to pushing up the fold a.

After the fold 1/ has been beaten up a pair of wefts is inserted in the ground forming cloth The warps it having passed through the ground warps, another section of fold-forming cloth iswoven above the ground warps to form another'fold a: above the ground warps and similar operations will be per.- forined as were carried outin the forming of the folds z and 1 above described. The operations are repeated to form subsequent folds below and above the ground cloth and are continued to produce the length of composite cloth required.

Although in the above example of the weaving operation, wefts are inserted in the ground warps to hold the upper folds z in place after the folding warps have passed below the ground warp and before commencing the weaving of the hanging fold section u; this is not an essential sequence as the holding wefts for the upper folds may be inserted during or after the weaving of the hanging folds and similarly the holding wefts for the threaded through the sets of healds and the dobby hanging folds 1/ may be inserted during or after amass the weaving of the next following upper fold forming section.

During the shedding and insertion of the wefts in the ground cloth take-up occurs according to normal practice by the operation of the mechanism shown in Figure 17.

For simplicity in the above description 2'. plain weave has been assumed but it is to be.understood that any suitable weave may be employed for either or both the folding cloth and the ground cloth.

A number of variations of the method described for forming the composite cloth such as seen in Figure 1 may be made to produce the modified composite cloth such as exemplified in Figures 2 to 14 by altering the setting and making the necessary adjustments of the loom as will be understood by those skilled in the art.

In Figure 2 a composite cloth is shown in which the folds above the ground cloth are of greater amplitude than those below the cloth while F18- ure 3 show a similar cloth in which the folds below the ground warps are of minimum amplitude so that they lie substantially fiat against the underside of the ground cloth. In both Figures 2 and 3 ground wefts are inserted and beatup occurs to form each fold above and below the ground warps.

In Figure 4 a composite cloth similar to that shown in Figure 1 is illustrated but in this case the ground wefts are inserted after the alternate folds, for example after each hanging fold is beaten up, no ground weft being inserted after the beating-up of the folds above the ground cloth.

In Figure 5 groups of folds of substantial amplitude w are formed above and below the ground warps and between these groups folds of lesser amplitude 11 are produced, ground wefts being inserted after the beating-up of each fold below and above the ground warps, or wefts may be inserted between certain of the folds of substantial amplitude and/or certain of the folds of lesser amplitude and omitted with respect to others.

As already mentioned, in addition to the intersecting ground or centre cloth, the folds of the fold-forming cloth may be intersected by the addition of warps disposed in spaced relationship with respect to the ground cloth either above or below the cloth. These may or may not be woven with corresponding wefts and serve as supplemen tary positioning and sustaining means for the upstanding folds. In Figure 6 a form is shown in which warps u only are provided, intersecting the upper part of the folds above the ground cloth. In Fig. 6 the weaving and fold formation is the same as above described and illustrated in Fig. 1 except for an additional warp u. These warp threads u are put on the same warp beam as the ground or centre warp B; consequently the rate of warp delivery is identical. Extra healds are used for raising or lowering the threads of additional warp it. In Fig. 6 the additional wlarp is made to pass through the folding cloth by raising or lowering the additional warp threads as required, whilst the folding cloth A is being woven.

In further explanation of the weaving of the cloth shown in Fig. 6' a suitable number of weft picks are made in the first fold section (equivalent to z in Fig. 1) during which operation the additional warps it are lifted; the additional warps u are then passed through the warps of the folding cloth A and kept below it for the weaving of several picks. The additional warps u are then lifted above cloth A and further folding cloth picks are woven to complete the fold section of the part of the cloth A under consideration, after which the folding warps are passed through the ground warps B and the weaving of the lower or hanging fold of the cloth A is continued. In Figure 6 the ground cloth B is shown as woven with wefts (indicated by dots) between folds but it will be understood in reference to this figure and to the figures which follow that the wefts need not be inserted after each fold but may be inserted after alternate folds or certain folds.

In Figure 7 another form of composite cloth is shown with additional warps u and t inserted above and below the ground cloth that is to-say, an additional warp t is inserted below the cloth B in the same manner as the warp u is inserted above the cloth, for which purpose another set of warps is added to the warp 'beam and threaded through additional controlling healds.

In Figure 8 additional (ground) warps u and t are positioned at the tops of the folds so that both sides of the cloth present a surface wovenappearance. In the instance shown in Figure 8 the additional warps are woven with wefts (shown by the dots on the thin lines it and t in the drawing) after alternate folds above and below the ground cloth these wefts being inserted by one or more picks after the insertion of the wefts in the ground cloth B. The additional warps u and t are worked by extra healds as above indicated in reference to Fig. 6 and with their wefts form in effect additional cloths parallel with and above and below the ground cloth B but instead of weaving additional cloths both above and below the ground cloth as seen in Figure 8 an additional cloth may be woven in the tops of the folds on one side only of the composite cloth as exemplified in Figure 9 and the weft for the warps u thereof is inserted just after the insertion of the wefts of the ground cloth B.

Additional cloths may also be woven into the tops of the folds on one or both sides of the ground cloth where the folds are not symmetrical, for example where the folds are arranged as in Figure 5 and the arrangement is as shown in Figure 10. It is preferred in employing additional warps at the tops of the longer folds and these are shorter folds between them which do not receive additional warps, to insert picks of wefts in the additional warps such as the warps t seen in Fig. 10. In this figure the additional cloth 1!. has single and double picks alternating while in the cloth t four (or another suitable number according to the pitch of the folds) picks intervene between the tops of the folds.

Figure 11 shows a composite cloth similar to that shown in Figure 8 but in which instead of having a single ground cloth as the cloth B in that figure, two ground cloths B intersect the folds and these cloths are spaced one on either side of the centre line of the cloth with ground wefts intervening after every fold. The warps for the two ground cloths B are wound on the same warp beam and are passed through separate healds. Additional warps u and t with complementary wefts as indicated are employed at the tops of the folds already described for the similar additional warps u and t in the earlier figures.

A variation of the cloth shown in Figure 3 is illustrated in Figure 12 where additional warps u are woven with wefts as shown to form an additional (surface) cloth which traverses the tops of the folds on the upper side of the ground cloth B. Thus, in this instance wefts are inserted in both the ground cloth B and in the top cloth u.

Where additional ground warps are used in the upper or in the hanging folds, the individual threads of these warps may go through the folding cloth in difl'erent places in relation to the wefts of the folding cloth.

Figures 13 and 14 illustrate examples of a composite cloth with folding arrangements as shown in Figure 1 but with fillings or independent wefts r traversing the loops, 1. e. enclosed in the loops, of the folds (Figure 13) or as in Figure 14 with fillings r laid between the loops. Theseextra filling weft threads (usually fairly thick threads, as indicated by the small circles r in Figs. 13 and 14) are merely passed across by the shuttles during weaving and do not interweave with either the warps of the folding cloth A or the warps of the ground cloth B or with additional warps such as u and t, but as the weaver will appreciate certain selvedge warp threads are madeto interlace with them and hold them in position. When the folds of the cloth A are pushed into place by the beating up the threads 1' will be held by the folds firmly in position. In both Figs. 13 and 14 the picks laying the filling wefts will be passed just after the wefts of the ground cloth B are inserted.

Fabric woven according to the present invention may be used for a variety of purposes. For example it may be used for clothing, blankets, rugs, carpets, underlays, providing furnishing fabrics or for the purpose of producing padding. By employing asbestos yarn for the fold-forming cloth or for the fold-forming cloth and the ground cloth fireproof material may be produced. Alternatively where a facing or additional cloth is woven into the folding cloth the weft of the additional cloth may be of asbestos. In using asbestor the warps and wefts of the fold-forming cloth may be of asbestos yam while the ground cloth may have warps of cotton or other material and the wefts may be of asbestos, or if desired these may also be of cotton or of other material. The fabric may be woven of fine wire. For the production of the fold-forming cloth and the ground forming cloth, the warps and wefts of both cloths may be metallic, or metallic warps or wefts of both cloths may be combined with wef-ts or warps respectively of cotton threads or threads warps of the ground forming cloth so that the warp or warp and weft of the fold forming cloth always appears on both sides of the ground forming cloth, a weft or wefts of which pass between the convolutions of the folds or certain of them of the fold forming cloth, fixing the said folds or certain of them so that they are held open at their base by woven ground weft and warp threads.

2. A composite fabric as claimed in claim 1 wherein the transverse folds are closely spaced together to afford one another mutual support.

3. A composite fabric as claimed in claim 1 wherein the amplitude of the fold is symmetrical on both sides of the ground forming cloth.

4. A composite fabric as claimed in claim 1 wherein the amplitude of the folds is greater on one side of the ground forming cloth than on the other.

5. A composite fabric as claimed in claim 1 wherein the folds are formed in groups of consecutive folds of substantial amplitude and said groups are separated by two or more folds of smaller amplitude, each fold or certain of them being secured longitudinally by one or more wefts of the ground forming cloth.

6. A method of composite weaving employing ground warps running from a warp beam for a ground forming cloth and folding warps which are twice, or more times, as long as the ground warps'and running from another warp beam to form a fold forming cloth, comprising weaving the fold forming cloth in sections including folding warps and wefts, forming successive folds in the fold forming cloth intersected approximately at right-angles by rectilinear ground warps of the ground forming cloth by passing the warps of the fold forming cloth through the ground warps and by beating up the woven fold forming cloth to push it up into folds on the ground warps towards the fell of the composite fabric and laying ground wei'ts through the ground warps between or in the fold loops (or certain of them) of the plurality of pieces of the composite fabric may be arranged in layers one upon the other with or without intervening'layers of cloth, felt, rubber, rubberised fabric, paper or wire net or wire cloth.

The layers-of composite fabricmay be held tothem) may be laid at right-angles to adjacent or other layers. We claim: 1. A composite fabric comprising, a warp and weft woven rectilinear ground forming cloth, a

warp and weft woven fold forming cloth which is twice, or more times, as long as the ground forming cloth, each cloth having its own warp and weft, and a succession of transverse folds formed in the fold forming cloth which are intersected fold forming cloth to secure the folds integrally, and hold the folds or certain of them open at their base by woven ground weft and warp threads.

"I. A method of composite weaving employing ground warps running from a warp beam for a gmund forming cloth and folding warps which are twice, or more times, as long as the ground warps and running from another warp beam to form a fold forming cloth, comprising weaving sections of the fold forming cloth including folding warps and wefts, forming the woven fold forming cloth into pairs or groups of folds of substantial amplitude extending on both sides of the ground forming warps and intersected approximately at right-angles thereby by beating up the fold forming cloth. on the ground warps towards the fell of the composite fabric, forming folds of relatively small or minimum amplitude in the folding warps between the said pairs or groups of folds and laying wef-ts through the,

ground warps so that such weft (or wefts) lies in said smaller folds or in the latter and in or between the pairs or groups of folds of substantial amplitude or certain of them.

8. A method of composite weaving employing ground warps running from a warp beam for a ground forming cloth and folding warps which are twice, or more times, as long as the ground warps and running from another warp beam to form a fold forming cloth, comprising weaving the fold forming cloth into sections including approximately at right angles by the rectilinear 76 w ps and were above the ground for in w rps to form an upper fold, passing the folding warps below the ground warps, beating up -the section to push it along the ground warps into an upper fold upstanding approximately at right-angles to the ground cloth, weaving another section of the fold forming cloth for a hanging fold section below the ground warps, beating up said section to push it along the ground warps to form a hanging fold approximately at right-angles to the ground cloth, a round weft (or wefts) to hold the formed fold longitudinally in position being inserted through the ground warps so that the folds or certain of them are held open at their base by woven ground weft and warp threads. and repeating the operations to form the requisite series of successive folds.

9. A method of composite weaving employing ground warps running from a warp beam for a ground forming cloth and folding warps which are twice, or more times, as long as the ground warps and running from another warp beam to form a fold forming cloth, comprising weaving a section of fold forming cloth including folding warps and wefts above the ground warps to form an upper fold, passing the folding warps below the ground warps, beating up the section to push it along the ground warps towards the fell of the composite cloth to form an upper fold upstanding approximately at right-angles to the ground 14 cloth, inserting one or more wefts through the ground warps to hold sald fold longitudinally in position, returning the folding warps through the ground warps, weaving another section of fold forming cloth to form another upper fold and repeating the operation to form a series of upstanding folds fixed in position on one side of the ground cloth and all or certain of the folds held open at their base by woven ground weft and warp threads.

EDWARD GLENDINNING. FRANK BINNS.

REFERENCES CITED The following references are of record in the file of this patent:

UNITED STATES PATENTS 

